# Help - setting off store alarm just going in to a store **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2015, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-setting-off-store-alarm-just-going-in-to-a-store/725537 "2015-07-18T18:17:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Steverd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Steverd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steverd)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-setting-off-store-alarm-just-going-in-to-a-store/725537/1 "2015-07-18T18:17:04Z")
Not the first time, but my wife was setting off store alarms going into store today (and leaving) the worse was at JC Penny, so I said wtf, lets figure this out. Go through the doors without your purse, it still went off. Go through the doors without your wallet, it still went off. Go through the doors without your Belt, it still went off. Go through the doors without your shoes, it still went off. Go through the doors without your watch, it still went off. Go through the doors without your Keys, it still went off. Go through the doors without your cell phone, it still went off. ALL pockets where empty. She was wearing some FADED GLORY capre pants. She was down to her socks, pants, shirt and bra, and she wouldn’t take anything else off. But she did ALOT of yelling at me… :smack: SHe gave up and left. Her pants has rivots, but no security tags, I could see. I searched them inside-out and felt all of the seams for a hidden device - nothing Is there a device I can order to maybe detect the signal setting off these alarms? THoughts?advice? Thank you ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-setting-off-store-alarm-just-going-in-to-a-store/725537/2 "2015-07-18T19:42:57Z")
I stepped on an RFID patch once, which stuck to the instep of my shoe. Alarm commenced. I had a bottle of some OTC med with an RFID, and also set the alarm off. My best guess is that it’s a bottle of ibuprofen in her pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-setting-off-store-alarm-just-going-in-to-a-store/725537/3 "2015-07-18T20:43:28Z")
She’s not Jamie Sommers, is she? 😃 Bra underwires? Metallized support mesh in pants or bra? Or, ETA, metalized decorations like flowers or arcs on the jeans pockets? Metal somewhere in her bones - pins, screws, plates? ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-setting-off-store-alarm-just-going-in-to-a-store/725537/4 "2015-07-18T20:46:04Z")
Why don’t you have her change clothes and then run the clothes she was wearing through the detector. Then run her, wearing a completely different outfit and carrying none of the stuff, through the detector. Narrow this down. The way those detectors work, there’s no easy way to build equipment to mimic them. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-setting-off-store-alarm-just-going-in-to-a-store/725537/5 "2015-07-18T21:22:48Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > Why don’t you have her change clothes and then run the clothes she was wearing through the detector. Then run her, wearing a completely different outfit and carrying none of the stuff, through the detector. Narrow this down. If she sets it off in a different outfit, start amputating limbs and passing them through. Continue narrowing this down! (Hah! A tiny metal sliver in her left cornea!) ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-setting-off-store-alarm-just-going-in-to-a-store/725537/6 "2015-07-18T21:32:41Z")
When I was in university, my roommate and I had a running gag where we would peel the security strip off a Blockbuster VHS tape and stick it to the underside of the other person’s insole. Used to driver the clerks crazy… ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-setting-off-store-alarm-just-going-in-to-a-store/725537/7 "2015-07-18T21:44:49Z")
That she wouldn’t run through naked just says she wasn’t serious about figuring it out. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-setting-off-store-alarm-just-going-in-to-a-store/725537/8 "2015-07-18T22:03:10Z")
She should have stripped naked and gone through to see what happens. Yes, right out there in front of everybody. This is the sort of thing that’s only embarrassing if you _choose to be embarrassed._ If you staunchly _refuse_ to be embarrassed, the embarrassment must still occur (it’s a law of physics), but it will devolve upon the store itself and its staff instead. Try it sometime, and see whose faces are red. (This is the same advice I gave to **Ambivalid** a few years ago when he complained of a restaurant with an inaccessible bathroom. I told him he should have dropped his pants right there are the table and peed on the floor right there, and see who gets embarrassed.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-setting-off-store-alarm-just-going-in-to-a-store/725537/9 "2015-07-19T01:33:20Z")
Those anti-theft gate things at retail stores aren’t metal detectors. So removing metal, e.g. car keys, isn’t going to change anything. One of the items on her person has an antenna device on it which matches the freq’s used by the gate. You didn’t find it, but it was there. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-setting-off-store-alarm-just-going-in-to-a-store/725537/10 "2015-07-19T02:35:52Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > She should have stripped naked and gone through to see what happens. Yes, right out there in front of everybody. Could a properly shaped IUD set off the detector? ---
**Author:** ![Steverd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Steverd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steverd)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-setting-off-store-alarm-just-going-in-to-a-store/725537/11 "2015-07-19T17:06:32Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Those anti-theft gate things at retail stores aren’t metal detectors. So removing metal, e.g. car keys, isn’t going to change anything. > > One of the items on her person has an antenna device on it which matches the freq’s used by the gate. You didn’t find it, but it was there. So do need need to find a RF detector instead of metal detector to search for the cause? Thanks EVERYONE! ---
**Author:** ![Steverd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Steverd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steverd)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-setting-off-store-alarm-just-going-in-to-a-store/725537/12 "2015-07-19T17:08:40Z")
> [@Tatterdemalion](#): > > Could a properly shaped IUD set off the detector? I thought of that, I need to do a FULL body cavity search… I said, are you sure you where abducted by aliens recently? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-setting-off-store-alarm-just-going-in-to-a-store/725537/13 "2015-07-19T17:11:36Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > One of the items on her person has an antenna device on it which matches the freq’s used by the gate. You didn’t find it, but it was there. That’s why I suggested a metallized mesh or decorative pattern, most likely on her bra, second option, on the jeans. Maybe the shirt. I am assuming the OP is not Frank Frazetta and the Mrs is not wearing chain mail undies. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-setting-off-store-alarm-just-going-in-to-a-store/725537/14 "2015-07-19T17:12:24Z")
> [@Steverd](#): > > So do need need to find a RF detector instead of metal detector to search for the cause? > > Thanks EVERYONE! It’s not either one. There’s an excitation coil in the detector in the store. It’s then listening for a response on a particular frequency. An RF detector just passively listens for a particular RF frequency. A metal detector uses an excitation coil but does it a lot differently. You could mimic the apparatus the store is using in order to create a wand, but you better be an engineer with a lot of experience with RF. Or, you could probably look on the sticker on the device to find the manufacturer, then maybe grab a used one off of ebay, but there is no commonly available tool you can get. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-setting-off-store-alarm-just-going-in-to-a-store/725537/15 "2015-07-20T03:17:55Z")
Is (or was) she her Daddy’s favorite? If so, then **as the chip off the old block** it’s her father’s fault. 😃